The Sister
by Music.And.Writing.Is.Life
Summary: Darcy Stutler, Dave's sister was with him that day in Arcana Cabana, she met Balthazar and held the Dragon Ring. Druing the chaos of Balthazar and Horvath fighting, she manages to save a fairy statuette and brings it home with her. What if, the fairy came to life and told her something that would change her life forever. Eventual Balthazar/OC
1. Prologue

Prologue

Britain 740 AD

The war between sorcerers was fought in the shadows of history, and the fate of mankind rested with the just and powerful, Merlin. He taught his secrets to three trusted apprentices, Balthazar, Veronica, and Horvath. He should have trusted only two. Veronica and Balthazar witnessed the savagery of a sorcerer beyond evil, Morgana le Fey, Merlin's most deadly enemy.

Horvath, whom Merlin had trusted, betrayed him to help Morgana. While Merlin lie on the floor, bleeding to death, Horvath stole what Morgana had wanted. And so it was. Morgana gained sorcery's most dangerous spell, known as "The Rising," giving Morgana the power to raise an army of the dead, and enslave mankind.

Veronica sacrificed herself for Balthazar by drawing Morgana's soul into her own body. But Morgana began to kill her from the inside. To save Veronica's life and to capture Morgana, Balthazar trapped them both in the Grimhold, an inescapable prison. Over time, Balthazar fought many sorcerers who tried to free Morgana, trapping them in layer upon layer of the doll. Eventually, he captured Horvath as well.

As Merlin lay dying, he gave Balthazar his dragon ring, saying it would guide him to the child who would one day grow to be Merlin's successor, the Prime Merlinean. "The Prime Merlinean is the only one, who can kill Morgana," he told Balthazar with his last breath.

Balthazar would search for centuries. Traveling the world in search of the one that would kill Morgana, and free his beloved Veronica. And never, it is said, will Balthazar waver from his quest, for mankind will never be safe, until Morgana is destroyed by the Prime Merlinean.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

New York City

2000

By the time my little brother, Dave's alarm clock was going off at exactly seven in the morning, I was already up and ready of the field trip that his class was going on. I was only six years older than him, but I had been chosen to be a 'chaperone' of sorts. Smirking slightly as our mother yelled up the stairs at him to remember to wear clean underwear, I jogged down the stairs. When he finally made it to the front door, I had already eaten and was waiting for him, rather impatiently, I might add.

"Here," I said, pushing a piece of buttered toast into his hand, "we're going to be late." Smiling his thanks, he took a bite of his toast as we headed out the door and towards the bus, which was waiting on the curb. Letting him board before me, I ran a hand through my curly brown hair before joining him in his seat. A few of the kids gave me strange looks while others smiled at me. One that had smiled at me was Becky, a girl that Dave had a huge crush on. Waving in greeting, I grabbed Dave's backpack and plopped it into the seat in front of us, next to one of his friends before taking it's place.

Taking out my MP3 player, I put my earbuds in and played my favorite song of the week. As we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, I glanced up to see Dave drawing on the window in sharpie. Rolling my eyes, I said nothing, knowing that he probably wouldn't listen to me anyways. Shutting my music off, I tucked the device back into my pocket and watched him. He was currently drawing King Kong with a few planes shooting at him, but there were parts missing and I wondered what he was planning.

"You're not supposed to be doing that, Dave," my brother's friend told him as he pushed his plastic straw into his drink. When Dave didn't respond in any way, he glanced over at me. "Are you going to stop him?" he asked quietly as a light blush spread across his cheeks. I frowned mentally, trying to remembered the kids name for a second before answering.

"Nope."

Dave grinned widely as he finished his drawing. "Now!" he said, just as the Empire State building came into view. Glancing up again, I saw that his drawing lined up almost perfectly with the building, making it look like King Kong was climbing on the building. Shaking my head in amusement at his pleased look, I turned at the same time he did when Becky called his name.

"David," she said, "that's cool." Dave grinned stupidly, making me roll my eyes. He was in love with her and had absolutely no idea that she felt the same way. Crossing my legs, I turned around to face the front of the bus again just as his friend gave him a thumbs up. Seeing that I was looking at him, he quickly lowered his hand again, another blush covering his face. Holding back a smile and a laugh, I ignored them both for the rest of the ride and tried to sleep.

When the bus finally stopped, I was the first one off, unable to stand even the thought of staying sitting any longer. When the teacher made her students sit on the pier where we could look at the Statue of Liberty, I shook my head and remained standing at the end of the bench, next to Becky. In the middle of the teachers speech, which no one was listening to, Becky got a note handed to her. Instantly knowing that it was from David, I peered at it over her shoulder. I rolled my eyes when I saw what it said.

It said, 'Check One; I would like to be David's; friend, girl friend.' There was a box next to each option. Crossing my arm, I tucked my unprotected hands beneath my arms, shielding them from the cold. Before she had picked an answer, I saw the teacher wave me over to her. Doing as she asked, I got to her side just as she gestured for the rest of the kids to stand up as well. Keeping my eyes firmly on Dave, I listened to the teacher through one ear.

While the kids got up and followed her, I saw Dave go to retrieve the note, which was sitting where I had been. Just as he reached for it, a stray wind hit it and lifted it up into the air. Knowing that he was going to follow it, I sighed and started walking towards him, as his friend just watched him. "I'll get him," I told his friend, who I had now remembered was named Oscar. He nodded then joined the rest of the group as I took off after my brother.

"Dave!" I yelled as he ran out into the middle of the street, "leave it alone, Dave." He either couldn't hear me or ignored me as he chased after a dog that now had it stuck to the bottom of its foot. Every time I got close to reaching him, he put on a burst of speed that made me frown in frustration. For a guy with such short little legs, he sure can run really fast, I thought as I chased him down a dark alleyway, the ground of which was covered in litter. When he finally slowed down, it was only because we were in front of a small, black building.

ARCANA CABANA, it read on the window in gold letters. Turning to look at me briefly, Dave walked up the stairs. As the note slipped into the mail slot in the door, I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Dave," I whispered, my gaze never leaving the window, "we need to get back to the class, before they leave." He shook my hand off.

"No!" he yelled loudly making me wince as the sound reached my ears, which were unusually sensitive to loud noises. Smiling apologetically, he lowered his voice slightly as he continued his sentence, "I have to see what she chose." With that, he cautiously pushed open the door. Blowing out a breath that lifted my bangs away from my face, I glanced around quickly before following him inside the building.

We walked in together slowly, studying the objects that filled the place. Wrinkling my nose at the sight of a mounted fish skeleton, I focused on looking for the note instead. David stopped abruptly, making me almost run into him. Frowning, I looked at what he was studying and grinned slightly. It was a lamp, like in the movie Aladdin. David grinned as well and glanced back at me for a second.

"No way," he said quietly as he reached up and rubbed his shirt sleeve against the top of it. Still smiling, he went to lift it up.

"I don't think that's the best idea," I warned him. He ignored me, as usual, and lifted it up anyways. It was attached to something by a thin chain so the plate beneath it lifted up as well, causing him to drop it. Acting on instinct, I reached out and grabbed both objects before they hit the ground. As I set it back in place, I heard Dave bump into something else in his haste to back away from the lamp. A few other things fell to the ground before I could stop them and he backed away again, bumping into a large ceramic urn.

Appearing as if out of nowhere, a man caught the rim of the urn before it hit the ground. Dave spun around in shock with an embarrassed look on his face. "The second emperor of the Han dynasty," the man, who I was assuming was the owner of the shop, began, "locked his least-favorite wife in this urn for ten years, to the day. They say you open it up, the same thing will happen to you."

"I'm sorry," Dave said, stuttering slightly, "I'm looking for this note. Have you seen it? It just kind of blew into your store." Rolling my eyes at his excuse, I moved to stand behind him. The man's eyes flicked to mine as he studied me briefly. Holding his gaze, I did the same to him. He had long, brown hair that was slightly wavy and reached to his chin. Covering that chin, was a light layer of scruff, along with a similar mustache. His bright blue eyes sat beneath thick eyebrows. All-in-all, the was a handsome man for someone that was quite a bit older than me.

"A note?" the man asked, moving the urn into a safer place.

"It blew into your store," Dave repeated, still stuttering and sounding desperate, "it was just a-"

"Coincidence," the man murmured, cutting off my brothers stammering. Dave looked up at me in question before nodding.

"Yeah, it was just a coincidence."

I frowned, I didn't necessarily believe in coincidences. The man turned and I quickly removed my frown, turning it into a neutral expression. He studied the both of us before speaking again as he walked past.

"I have something I'd like to show you, Dave," he said as we both turned around to follow his movements.

"How'd you know my name was Dave?"

"'Cause I can read minds!" the man yelled as he spun to face us. I snorted at the terrified look on his face, making them both look at me. Rolling my eyes, I held the man's gaze as I spoke.

"It's on your backpack, idiot," I stated, crossing my arms over my chest as I raised an eyebrow accusingly at the man. A quick grin flashed across his face before it was gone and he nodded. His eyes remained on me though.

"And who are you?" he asked curiously.

"Names Darcy," I replied, holding a hand out to him, "I'm his older sister." As he took my hand, a small spark appeared where our hands touched and we both pulled away. Frowning, I glanced down at my hand to see that there was a small red mark on my palm.

"Balthazar Blake," the man, Balthazar, murmured, rubbing his palm with the fingers of his other hand, obviously having been burned like me. His blue eyes studied me for a moment before he turned around and continued walking. Grabbing Dave's shoulders, I shoved him in the right direction as Balthazar ordered for us to come over to him.

Even though Dave was walking in front of me, I could see that he was still scared by the way his shoulders were tensed. Standing directly behind him, I placed my hands on his shoulders as we stopped in front of a desk. Balthazar bent down, picked something up, then set a small, stone box on the counter before us. He then slowly lifted the lid to show us what was inside. Sitting inside was a small metal dragon statue. Picking it up carefully, Balthazar placed it in his palm.

"This is very special," he told us, his eyes switching from me to Dave, "and if it likes one of you, you can keep it." I frowned and held his gaze, wondering why a complete stranger would offer us this. Dave looked briefly tempted then shook his head.

"I better not," he said, forcing us to back up a few steps, "my teacher said that we couldn't be gone for very long. She knows we're here." I had to fight back a smirk, he was truly a terrible liar. Seconds later, the man spoke, seemingly as though he knew what I was speaking.

"You're a bad liar, Dave," he stated, "that's good." Dave made a small noise then started walking towards the doors, leaving me to follow. Before he had taken even ten steps, the doors closed with a loud creak and a quiet bang.

"Oh, boy," he whispered, turning around to walk back to where I was standing. Reaching up slowly, he carefully took the figurine from the man's hand. Balthazar watched it intently as Dave held it in his palm like he had done moments before. Almost instantly, the figurine came to life, shaking out its metal wings. Dave gasped as it crawled around his hand. Moving closer, I peered over his shoulder to see it better.

The dragon froze on his finger and after a few seconds, it turned to look directly at me. Before I knew what it was going to do, it had leapt off of Dave's finger and onto the front of my shirt. Sucking in a breath, I looked down at its small, wiggling form as it dug its claws into the cloth. Crawling it's way up my shirt, it paused when it reached my shoulder and nuzzled its head into my neck. Realizing that it wasn't going to hurt me, I reached up and pulled it off gently, not wanting to hurt it.

It squirmed in my fingers, feeling as though it was actually alive. Studying it for a moment, I placed it in my palm. I smiled slightly as it curled up into a ball, looking up at me with rather large eyes. Lifting it up once more, I placed it onto Dave's hand again. As I did, I could feel Balthazar staring at me. Glancing up, I met his eyes as I released the dragon. It curled its tail around Dave's finger and hardened again, becoming a ring. I looked away as Dave spoke.

"No way."

"I have been searching a very long time," Balthazar said after a moment, moving out from behind the counter. His eyes were on me for a while before he knelt down in front of Dave, looking him in the eyes and placed his hands on his arms. "Magically, here you are," he said, holding his gaze, "that ring on your finger means something, Dave. It means, you're going to be a very important sorcerer one day. And your first lesson begins right now, with your very own Encantus. Do not move, do not touch anything."

As Dave was studying the ring in his hand, I glanced around the room. Frowning, I moved closer to a small glass statue of a fairy. It looked like a little person with purple hair that was sitting on a red mushroom. It's wings were tinted a blue color and had delicate swirls on its wings. She had light pink eyes beneath purple eyebrows and a small nose. Her legs were crossed and she had bare feet. Including the mushroom, it was only about two and a half inches tall. Smiling at it, I ran a finger lightly over the edge of one of her wings. As I watched, it looked like the wing shifted slightly.

My attention was pulled from the statue when a thumping noise caught my attention. Turning around, I saw Dave jerk his finger, the one with the ring. As he did, a few boxes that were on a shelf on the far wall fell to the ground. Smiling slightly, Dave jerked his finger again.. Before I could stop him, the wall burst open and a Russian nesting doll fell out.

"Dave, don't," I said, moving closer to him as he lifted it up, ignoring me. As he held it in his hands, the seam appeared, dropping it out of surprise, it popped open. "Dave," I hissed as cockroaches started pouring out of the doll, "what did you do!?" We both started backing up as the roached formed in the shape of a person, a person that took a step towards us. Soon, the bugs all disappeared and in their place was a tall man with a fur coat.

"When am I?" he asked, looking at Dave and seemingly not noticing me.

"New York city," Dave stuttered as we continued to retreat. The man continued to clean off his cane, which had a large blue stone on the top.

"Not where. The year," he said, "you are wasting my time." The stone atop his cane started to glow but before anything could happen, he was knocked to the ceiling by a blast of air. The store owner came out carrying a large book in one hand, the other holding the other man in place.

"What happened to 'don't touch anything'?" he asked slowly, glaring at man that was stuck to the glass above us.

"That's not very sporting of you, Balthazar," the man said in what I understood to be a British accent. I continued to stare up at the man, who had still not noticed me.

"Be quiet," the man, Balthazar, said to him before looking at Dave and me, "it's not you. He's been like this for a thousand years. I'll explain later." As he spoke, the man above us began to reach for him cane. "I need the Grimhold. Where's that doll?" he asked Dave. My brother pointed down to it and just as he was reaching for it, he was blown back in the same fashion as the other man, who now had his cane in his hand.

The man in question fell to the ground, making Dave duck out of fear. Seeing that Balthazar was getting to his feet, the man threw a cabinet looking thing at him, using his cane. As he reached for the doll, Balthazar burst from the thing that had crashed into him and tackled him. Grabbing Dave by the arm, I drug him into a corner.

We both watched as the two men fought, the Grimhold bouncing over to us. I sheltered Dave as the glass counter exploded. Dave picked up the doll as I moved away from him. The man from the doll used his cane to control a sword, sending it towards Balthazar. Grabbing the horn of from what looked like a unicorn skull, Balthazar used it as a sword.

The horn was knocked out of his hand and it went flying. Following its path, I saw instantly that it was headed towards the Fairy statue. Before I knew what I was doing, I was on my feet and running towards it. In seconds, I had it in my hands and was ducking out of the way to avoid being speared by the horn. Sighing in relief, I tucked the fairy into my pocket before making my way back to Dave.

A few seconds after I got to him, the man from the Grimhold crashed into the case in front of us, knocking a jar onto Dave's leg. It's contents soaked into his pant leg as I gestured for him to follow me as I crawled away. He did as I told him for once and we silently tried to escape.

"I want that doll," I heard the stranger say as I turned around to look. What I saw shocked me. Balthazar leapt from a wall of flame to tackle him again. The man managed to grab Dave's ankle, then his bag. As he did, the urn that we had seen first opened and sucked one of his papers into it.

I stood and started pulling Dave to his feet when something grabbed my ankle and yanked, making me fall to the floor. Looking behind me, I saw that it was the man from the nesting doll. Panicking, I automatically reached out to pry his hand from my ankle. As I did though, a tingle ran down my arm. When it reached my hand, it traveled through my fingers and came out as a burst of flame. Crying out, the man released me and I scrambled to my feet.

"Leave, Dave!" Balthazar ordered, his eyes turning to me, "leave now!" I nodded then grabbed Dave's hand and pulled him to his feet as both the men turned to dust and were sucked into the urn. With the Grimhold cradled in Dave's arms, we sprinted out the door. Pausing at the edge of the street, Dave tossed the doll out into the middle of the road. I winced as it landed but before I could do anything, my shoulder was grabbed.

Turning around, I saw that it was Dave's teacher. "David and Darcy Stutler! Don't ever leave your-"

Dave interrupted her. "There's these crazy wizard guys in there!" he told her. I frowned, knowing that no one would believe us if we told them what had happened. "They're made of roaches!" he added. The teacher turned and started up the stairs. "No! Don't go in there! The stores on fire! Don't go in!" he yelled.

I followed after him as he followed the teacher. When she opened the door, there was nothing there. The store wasn't on fire, nor was anything broken. She said something about not telling stories before she led us back out to the street. When the door closed behind us, the first thing that happened was a boy yelling.

"Ew! He peed his pants!"

As everyone laughed, I looked down to see that the liquid that had spilled from the jar made it look like he had. As he told them what happened, I pulled off my jacket and handed it to him. Getting the hint, he wrapped it tightly around his waist. The only one's not laughing were me, the teacher, and Becky. As he started crying, I pulled him into a hug and glared at the kids. The became quiet almost instantly.

Wrapping an arm around his shoulder, I lead the way back to the bus. I pushed Dave to the back and sat next to him, glaring at anyone that looked like they were going to say something to him. As the bus started moving, I remembered the fairy in my pocket. Reaching down, I pulled it out carefully, making sure no one saw it. When it was resting in my palm, I studied it.

The first thing I noticed was that it looked slightly different. The glass was less shiny, making the skin and the cloth of her clothes look real. The second thing I noticed was that her legs weren't cross, when I was almost positive that they had been before. Frowning, I shrugged and placed it back in my pocket, deciding to look at it later, once we were at home.

After another long bus ride, we arrived at our stop and I followed Dave as he ran to the house. Our parents were at work so when got inside, it was empty, which I think Dave was grateful for as he hurried up to his room, Tank, the bulldog following him slowly. Sighing, I followed even more slowly, heading to my own room. Once inside, I closed the door behind me and pulled the fairy from my pocket.

Setting it on my bedside table, I sighed again before plopping down on my bed. As I stared up at the ceiling, I thought about what had happened at Arcana Cabana, mostly though, I thought about Balthazar and what he had called my brother. A sorcerer. Sitting up abruptly, I stood and made my way over to the computer that sat on the desk in the corner of my room.

Pushing the power button, I waited for it to turn on before I navigated to Google. Once there, I frowned and thought for a moment before typing in the word 'Balthazar'. Nothing important showed up as I scrolled through what had come up. Sighing, I deleted the name before typing in 'Grimhold'. Again nothing. Groaning, I let my head fall back before another idea came to me.

Sitting up, I quickly typed in 'Dragon ring, magic,' and clicked go. Scrolling through what had popped up, I stopped on a promising site. As I read through it, I'm sure my eyes got wider and wider. My eyes landed on a particular paragraph and I read it out loud.

"The legendary sorcerer Merlin was once recorded of having a ring in the shape of a small dragon. In the writings, it was said that when he died, by the hand of Morgana le Fay, he gave the ring to his apprentice, whose name was Balthazar. It is said that Balthazar took the ring and went in search on the Prime Merlinean, a direct descendant of Merlin himself."

Leaning back in my chair, I ran a hand through my hair before leaning forward again and going back to Google. This time, I typed in 'Morgana le Fay'. Millions of hits. Smiling, I scrolled through them until I found one that looked like a history site. Clicking on it, I skimmed through it until I came to another paragraph that mentioned Merlin and the Grimhold.

"Morgana le Fay, enemy of the sorcerer Merlin, was said to be trapped in an object called the Grimhold. The Grimhold was recorded to be a doll that was similar to the Russian nesting dolls of today and each layer held a trapped sorcerer and in the center was Morgana. The name of who trapped them was never recorded but it was said that he was an apprentice of Merlin himself.

It is said that Morgana killed Merlin in order to get a spell called 'The Rising'. She was helped by a former apprentice of Merlin by the name of Maxim Horvath. He betrayed Merlin to help her for reasons unknown, but in the end, he was trapped within the Grimhold himself."

Beneath the last paragraph was a painting of a man. Beneath it was the title, 'Maxim Horvath'. As I studied the painting, I realized that it wa the man from Arcana Cabana, the one that was released from the Grimhold. "Oh god, Dave," I whispered, "what have you done?" Rubbing my eyes, I sighed and powered the computer back down.

Standing, I turned to face my bed when a flash of movement caught my eye. Frowning, I looked around before letting my eyes land on my bedside table. At first I didn't notice what was wrong, then the splash of red caught my attention. In the center of the table, right where I had left it, was the fairy statue, but the fairy was gone, leaving only the mushroom. My frown grew as I moved forward to kneel in front of it.

The instant I had, something was thrust into my face. I took me a second to focus on it but when I did, I gasped and fell back onto my butt. It was the fairy... the very much alive fairy, which was looking at me with a curious expression on her small face. This is not real, I thought, this can't be happening. My thoughts paused and I flashed back to what had happened to me earlier that day.

"Y-You're a fairy," I stuttered, not sure if it could understand me at not but figuring that it was better to assume that it was intelligent rather than insulting it. Instantly, the fairy started giggling and nodded her head rapidly up and down.

"Yes," it said in a quiet voice that reminded me of a wind-chime, "and you are an Elemental." I frowned at the word but ignored it as I moved closer to her.

"How are you alive?" I asked curiously, "you were a statue not too long ago." The tiny creature giggled again and floated over to sit back on the mushroom.

"You broke the curse," she stated simply. At my confused look, she giggled again and continued, "I was cursed to be forever cast in glass but you broke it. I'm a fairy of the elements, and because you are an Elemental, when you touched me, you broke the curse. Your power awoke my own."

I stayed silent for a moment before nodding and leaning forward. "I have two questions, one; what is your name, and two; what is an Elemental?" I asked, frowning slightly. She giggled again and I realized that she would probably be doing that quite a bit.

"I'm Caressa,"she responded, smiling at me, "and an Elemental is a sorcerer that works only with the five elements. Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Spirit. You might also have some sort of connection with mythical creatures. Now I have a question, what's your name?"

"Um, Darcy."

There was a moment of silence where Caressa started swinging her legs back and forth like a little kid. I couldn't help the smile that came to my face. She smiled back and an idea came to mind. "So, can you work magic?" I asked her. She grinned wider and nodded. "Can you teach me?" I added. She nodded again, her grin turning excited. I smiled and sat down completely as she started talking.


End file.
